Old things in the south

Chapter 37
Strolling around the dark second-hand bookstore has a sense of poetry. I have never experienced it. I only feel that this kind of second-hand bookstore or antique shop has been quiet for many years, and there are very few customers.There is a saying in Beiping about antique shops: "If you don't open for three years, you can eat for three years after opening." This is the case!On this street, Hu Kaiwen, He Lianqing, and Li Yutian's Hubi Huimo, Rongbaozhai, and Qingmige's calligraphy and painting paper have experience in buying.When I was in primary school, I learned to write calligraphy in the second grade. I went to Liulichang to buy a small cupronickel ink cartridge with landscape paintings engraved on it. After buying it, I asked my mother to hook an ink cartridge case with wool.On the days when I have to practice calligraphy, I go to school with a small ink cartridge.On the rough-edged paper copybook of Jiugongge, scribble according to Liu Gongquan's copybook Spring Earthworm and Autumn Snake.The willow characters are delicate and delicate, which is suitable for girls to practice calligraphy. I have been practicing for many years in this Liu Gongquan Xuanmi Pagoda copybook that my uncle bought for me!In summer and autumn, the spring silkworms spin silk every day, just to use silk cotton as the cartridge core.Wrap a piece of "Natural Ruyi" ink stick with tissue paper, and then melt wax oil to drip all over the wrapping paper, in order to strengthen the ink stick so that it will not break.Patiently and interestingly, he ground the thick ink and poured it into the ink cartridge.I like to use the seven-purple three-feather hair brush, dipped in the ink that I made completely myself. Although the characters I write are not very good, they are full of interest.All these are requested from Liulichang.

Grinding ink is indispensable in the study life of Chinese people. After I got married, I often saw my father-in-law in the study, and his concubine Manji was sitting at the table, bending her arms and working around in a regular way, grinding for the old man. ink!Only at this time they are harmonious and peaceful. They must have the feeling that although the universe is big, there are only two of them.I remember that during the Chinese New Year in a certain year, the old man was not afraid of taboos, so he wrote on a pair of gray rice paper from the Forbidden City——

Old thinking without disease
hunger for money

Such a pair is written as Kaichun.After the couplet was framed, it was hung in their study.It has always been my favorite. I once wanted to ask the old man if I could give it to my daughter-in-law in the sixth room as a souvenir, but I never exported it, and now I only keep it as a memory.I also remember that when I returned to Taiwan, I saw Mr. Wu Zhuoliu, my late father’s first student. He told me repeatedly that he was taught by my late father when he was eight years old. He would often go to the teacher’s dormitory after school to grind ink and draw paper , Watch the teacher write.He once wrote this deep and intimate impression in his forbidden book "The Fig".

When it comes to paper, it is also a product of Liulichang. As mentioned earlier, I used rough-edged paper copybooks for my initial calligraphy. Of course, I don’t need to buy them from high-end stores such as Rongbaozhai and Qingmige, but I like Rongbao when I grow up. I went to buy some colored wood watermark paper. I didn't buy it for writing letters. I was not willing to use it, and it was not so elegant. I just loved it and kept it as a work of art.I remember that there is a set of Qi Baishi's freehand sketches, fish, shrimp, crab, etc., printed on the lower left corner of the paper, not to mention how elegant it is.Printing paper with watermarks on wood is a specialized technology of Rongbaozhai. I heard that in recent years they have developed to reproduce famous paintings from ancient and modern times with color watermarks on wood.Last year in Hong Kong, Jin Dongfangmei gave me a brocade boxed "Luoxuan Biangu Jianpu", which was produced by the Shanghai Museum. The antique rice paper is so simple and lovely.There are nearly [-] sheets of Luoxuan paper notation originally made by Wu Faxiang during the Tianqi period of the Ming Dynasty. Only eight sides were selected for this set and printed in the center of the letter paper. Bamboo stones, lonely geese, flowers, bookshelves, flower deer, etc. are painted in two colors, simple and elegant. I stroke and play with them, and I can't help but think of the "arty" mood when I was young when I went to Liulichang to buy such cultural relics!
In the past 20 years since Liulichang came to Liulichang, what I can still remember is Youzheng Bookstore in Lunan. Every year on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the glass windows of the store are covered with embroidered images of Chinese classical novels such as "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". It seems that reading comic books is also a favorite of children.The plaques of the Liulichang Antique Store also have their own characteristics. Most of the inscriptions are calligraphers. In my impression, there are Yao Hua (Mangfu), Zhang Boying, Lu Runxiang, Weng Tonghe, Zhang Hairuo, Zhu Chunnian, etc. I can’t remember others. However, the plaques they inscribed for each family are no longer remembered.

The bookstores (not second-hand bookstores) that make me happier are the new-style bookstores in Liulichang—Commercial Press, Zhonghua Bookstore, Beixin Bookstore, and Modern Bookstore.When I was in elementary school, every semester started, and I had to go to Commerce and China to buy textbooks with the book list, which was the happiest thing for me.The business is very large. When you go up the steps, there are two doors on the left and right. After entering, there is a spacious corridor. The second door is a revolving door. They had a revolving door at least 60 years ago.It can be seen that it is foreign.After going in, there are tall counters on the left and right. I describe it as high because I am a little girl, and I have to look up at the counter. I stretched out my arms and handed over the book list. Then there is an aerial cable tied to a box, put the book list and book money into the box and bounce it to the cash desk, and then bounce back after a while.In this way, the clerk does not have to run to the counter.Xiao Xiaoxiao feels that this bookstore is very proud, and I am really happy to buy books in such a bookstore.Sometimes when I came home from school and passed by the business, I would run up the steps, go in through this door, walk through the corridor, and then come out through that door. I was very happy just walking around like this.Zhonghua Bookstore is diagonally opposite to the business, just a one-story house, much smaller in style.In addition to textbooks, when I was a primary school student, I subscribed to the Chinese bimonthly "Little Friends" and the commercial "Children's World" magazine for many years, which were my spiritual food after class.I remember that "The Crocodile Family" translated by Wang Renlu was serialized in "Children", which is my favorite novel. Wang Renlu is the brother of movie star Wang Renmei. He wrote and translated many works for children.

Beixin Bookstore (Lubei) and Modern Bookstore (Lunan) are the places where I absorbed new literature and art books in Liulichang after I went to middle school.My father passed away after I graduated from elementary school, and my mother was an old-fashioned woman with little literacy and no brothers or sisters. I was the eldest, and I had to decide what books to read and what schools to take. To cultivate my interest in reading (not textbooks), you can say " I live next to the bookstore"—Liulichang has had a great influence on me.The Modern Bookstore was run by some people from Shi Zhecun, and it appeared in a "modern" appearance. I subscribed to a copy of "Modern" magazine. There is a literary atmosphere!

If Changdian uses "shopping", then it is not exclusive to literati and scholars; visiting Changdian is only done twice a year, that is, during the new calendar year and the old calendar year.The scope of Changdian originally belonged to the Haiwang Village Park area, but in the Beijing era before the Northern Expedition, its bustling and prosperous extended several miles from east to west, from east to west, from north to south; a whole Xinhua Street, from Hepingmen Mianer in the north to Hufangqiao Street in the south; The whole East-West Liulichang just formed a cross shape.In Haiwang Village Park, there are hundreds of stalls, each with its own concentration point for toys, food, jade, etc.This is for children and general housewives.According to Mr. Qi Rushan, there are hundreds of typical Chinese-made toys, and all of them will appear in Changdian during the Chinese New Year.I remember waking up in the morning, at home, I could hear the windmills and Pupudeng toys bought by the children in the alley who were rushing to the factory in the early morning shift, and the wind and people were blowing all the way.The food stalls are on both sides and behind the entrance of Haiwang Village, and in the center of Haiwang Village, a high platform was set up in the "Beijing" era, and many teahouses were set up. of.This disappeared after the Northern Expedition.Xianweng once wrote "Changdian New Year Bamboo Branch Ci", which described the situation of "walking" in Changdian back then.

As for the old bookstalls and painting sheds in Changdian Xinchun, they are set up on the main road that runs through the entire south and north Xinhua Streets. Most of the big painting sheds are in a row at the entrance of the Normal University, and there are old bookstalls in front of the small gate opposite, each extending several times. Li long.It is not enough for literati and scholars to visit second-hand bookstalls in the morning or afternoon, they have to come every day, morning and afternoon.The second-hand bookstore in Liulichang also set up a temporary book stall here, but of course you have to go to the store to see the valuable out-of-print ancient books.I still don't understand the calligraphy and painting in the studio, I just watch the fun.But I remember that there were a lot of writings by Dong Qichang and Zheng Banqiao, and paintings by Bada Shanren. I found out later that many of them were fake.

During the 25 years I lived in Peiping, no matter whether I lived near Liulichang or not, I went to Liulichang almost every day.When I was in the second grade of the Affiliated Primary School, my family moved to Xinlianzi Hutong in Hepingmen. Every day, I had to drive around Shunzhi Gate and walk along Shuncheng Street to go to the Affiliated Primary School.I remember that when the construction was underway, I could also walk over the piles of soil mounds, which was very novel and interesting.From Xinlianzi Hutong to Hufangqiao Street, this time to the south end of South Xinhua Street, and to and from school also have to go to Xinhua Street, Changdian to the attached primary school.Later, he moved to Xijiaomin Lane. Although it was not in the Liulichang area, he still had to go to Changdian to go to school every day before he graduated from primary school.When my father was seriously ill, my family lived in Liangjiayuan. After my father passed away, we moved to Nanliu Lane. After marriage, my husband’s family lived in Yongguangsi Street, which belongs to Liulichang District.When I lived on Nanchang Street next to Zhongshan Park in the last few years, I worked in the library of the Normal University. I still came to Changdian to work every day, and I still did not leave Liulichang.

Liulichang-Changdian-Haiwangcun Park is an important place for me from childhood to adulthood.I grew up in Si and studied in Si, but I am a person who "lives next to the bookstore and doesn't know anything about the bookstore". I am ashamed.I didn't learn anything, I just blamed myself for having too many interests, so I had to be a little proud from the vanity point of view!

(End of this chapter)